Coming up in 2010/11: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

After Tristan this summer, Seattle Opera will present (in the fall) an extremely different kind of Romantic tragedy, Donizetti's beloved Lucia di Lammermoor. Probably the most popular of all bel canto operas, Lucia has all the show-off arias, catchy tunes, and layered ensembles which Wagner avoided in his music dramas.

Our production of Lucia di Lammermoor will star William Burden, fresh from his recent triumph as Dodge in Amelia; making her Seattle Opera debut, Aleksandra Kurzak, the Polish soprano who recently drove from Warsaw to London for a performance when her flight was canceled because of the volcano (read the story HERE); Davinia Rodriguez, an exciting young soprano from the Canary Islands; and the return of Scott Piper, who sang Rodolfo for Seattle Opera in 2007.

Scott Piper sang Edgardo in Lucia for Opera Cleveland's recent production, which, like the upcoming Seattle production, is staged by Tomer Zvulun, right. Zvulun worked on a number of Seattle Opera productions as Assistant Director (Der Rosenkavalier, L'italiana in Algeri, Don Giovanni, Giulio Cesare, La bohème, Der Fliegende Höllander, and Iphigénie en Tauride), and served as Associate Director for the 2009 RING.

Although his Seattle production (sets by Robert Dahlstrom and costumes by Deborah Trout) won't look anything like his Opera Cleveland production, Zvulun hopes to achieve the same level of suspense and psychological depth as he did in Cleveland, where he set the action in the 1930s. According to Cleveland's Plain Dealer, "Fiddling with matters of time and locale can wreak havoc on operatic coherence, but stage director Tomer Zvulun has come up with a through-line that adds emotional resonance without distracting from the musical focus."

A few photos (by Eric Mull and Ruppert Bohle) of Zvulun's Lucia for Opera Cleveland (more can be found HERE):

The Cleveland production made use of projections, for example the forged letter that convinces Lucia her beloved Edgardo is faithless

ClevelandClassical.com described Scott Piper's Edgardo as "full of passion and vocally glorious"; Nili Riemer was his Lucia

For the most iconic image in Lucia (the soprano in a bloody wedding-dress), Zvulun created an entire bloody wedding-bed

Lucia concludes with Edgardo's aria at the tombs of his ancestors

At Opera Cleveland, where Seattle Opera's own Dean Williamson is Artistic Director, Erhard Rom was Set Designer, Robert Wierzel was Lighting Designer, Ruppert Bohle was Projection Designer, and Carol Bailey Costume Designer. For reviews of the Opera Cleveland Lucia, click HERE and HERE.